William Garner Sutherland

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William Garner Sutherland (1873 – 1954) was an American physician. He was an important figure in American osteopathic medicine. Several of his manual therapy techniques are still practiced today by practitioners of osteopathic medicine. Dr. Sutherland was the first osteopath to conceptualize the cranial approach and systematically teach it. He always acknowledges Andrew Taylor Still as the discoverer of all osteopathy including the cranial approach. Cranial osteopathy is a misnomer; cranial means the head and it became known as this as the evolution of the system started with diagnosis and treatment of the soft tissues and bones of the cranium. Sutherland was the first to feel a rhythmic shape change in the bones of the cranium, he later applied this movement to all body tissues and this movement is the agent of change in dysfunctional tissues. He later named this force Primary Respiration.

A list of techniques and concepts which Sutherland had significant impact on:

• Cranial osteopathy, is the source of craniosacral therapy (cranial techniques practiced by non osteopaths)

• Balanced ligamentous tension
• Primary respiratory mechanism